OAKLAND — Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss know they picked a horrible time to go into a joint hitting funk, and it wasn’t setting well with either one of them in the wake of the A’s second straight postseason elimination by the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.

A number of the A’s underperformed offensively in this latest playoff short-circuit by Oakland, but the team’s top all-around player in the regular season (Donaldson) and their best power hitter (Moss) topped the list.

Donaldson went 3 for 21 in the series (.143), walked just once, did not have an extra-base hit or an RBI and struck out eight times.

Moss went 2 for 18 (.111). His only RBI was a solo homer in Game 3 and he struck out an astounding 13 times.

It took awhile for both players to gather themselves before they were prepared to address the media.

Donaldson, angrily throwing gear from his locker into a box, finally turned to face the grim finality of the moment.

“It’s not good right now,” he said. “I’m not happy about it. It’s not fun being here right now. It’s rough. We thought that we had the team to win and go pretty far in this thing, we just fell a game short.”

Donaldson said the four-day layoff between the end of the regular season and Game 1 definitely disrupted something in his swing.

“I’m a pretty big rhythm and timing guy, and not seeing live pitches for a little bit, it kind of throws your timing off,” he said. “But we’re major league baseball players, we have to make the adjustments, and make them quick. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that and I wasn’t able to help my team.

“Early on, the first couple games, I was kind out of rhythm, out of sorts. In Detroit, I felt I was getting close to where I wanted to be and (Thursdaynight) I felt pretty good in the box. But I just couldn’t wait out a pitch that was a strike. My plate discipline that was absolutely terrible tonight.”

As for Moss, it was pretty much the same level of disappointment.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said. “It’s pretty disappointing. You spend all year doing certain things and being a guy who can be counted on in the middle of the order, and then you get to the playoffs when it matters most and you don’t get the job done. It sucks.

“They pitched great, but there were also times when I got certain pitches in certain counts that I missed. I swung through a lot of pitches trying to do too much.

“You get in that hole in the first couple of games where you’re swinging and missing a lot, it gets in you head a little bit. You start to wonder why you’re missing so many pitches you normally hit, and that sits in the back of your mind. Those thoughts just breed the results. It was frustrating, but it’s over and done with now.”

Moss admitted he and Donaldson weren’t the only players who struggled at the plate. Jed Lowrie hit .150, Stephen Vogt hit .188 and the two second basemen, Eric Sogard and Alberto Callaspo, combined to go 1 for 15.

“Cespy (Yoenis Cespedes), Coco (Crisp) and Smitty (Seth Smith) were hot, but we could have done a better job offensively,” Moss said. “I think all of us would say that, and I know I’m one of them.”

Donaldson said he didn’t know how he’d resolve his postseason after such team’s outstanding season and his own personal fine year. What means will mean more in the long run?

“I’d like to say the season that we had, but it’s just disappointing because we felt like we had the team to go all the way,” Donaldson said. “To not be able to do that is upsetting. It’s something we’ll have to reflect on and try to learn from and hopefully we’ll put ourselves in this position again.”

Carl Steward has been a sportswriter for Bay Area News Group newspapers for more than 40 years, covering all manner of sports as a beat writer, columnist and jack-of-all-trades reporter. He has covered numerous Super Bowls, World Series, major golf tournaments and even did turns covering horse racing's Triple Crown and soccer's World Cup. He has also written the popular light-hearted "Darting Here and There" column for many years.

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